so i'm retarded

[Jathyr]

I've been checking out the benchmarks and I'm wondering if refunding my x1800xt and just paying the 90 bucks or so for a x1900xt is a better bet.

I'm playing oblivion and i just am way too addicted...

help!

 

[Ian]

If you have the $100 to spend, you will definately see an improvement. What are the rest of your system specs?

 

[Jathyr]

3.2 p4 HT 775 socket
1 gig DDR 2 (800 speed i think)
MB ECS RS400-A (1.0) 775 mobo... (this one I regret)
x1800xt
485W enermax psu
most hardrives, some optical drives, lotta fans (kinda loud but I don't mind)

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

Yup, the X1900 will be a much better bet than the x1800. Oblivion is much more shader intensive, plus the x1900 has a few extra tricks like Fetch4 for shadow rendering.

Although, I'd also reccomend getting an extra gig of ram.

 

[fainis]

on that sistem of yours there will be an improvement if you shift on x1900.but i can`t say how big.....same games will benefit more same won`t.....if you can do it go for it ...

more ram also recommended

 

[PJ101]

Well it's only been said about 10 times here but I also think you should go for it if you have the $$. I think it is more important to get another gig of memory though, this may stop the computer from accessing your harddrive (much faster when it isnt)

 

[unsmart]

Cool, I'm not the only retard!!

 

[rodney_ws]

I've been checking out the benchmarks and I'm wondering if refunding my x1800xt and just paying the 90 bucks or so for a x1900xt is a better bet.

I'm playing oblivion and i just am way too addicted...

help!

For less than $100?!? To me that's a no-brainer... DO IT.

 

[carpcmelee]

i heard they made a mod that makes fake hdr in oblivion. i dont see why u should pay $90 when u can have a nice card and hdr.

 

[bluntside]

If you get a x1900 series card, you might want to invest in a better psu.
That specific card is a power hog :twisted:

 

[Jathyr]

how much power is enough with the x1900xt??? i thought my 485W would do the job... it was an 80 dollar psu

 

[Bluefinger]

The X1800XT will be fine, as long as you back it up with 2 gigs of RAM. If you really have to, then go buy the X1900XT, but also do make sure you have that two gig of RAM, Oblivion will love you for it. And a 485W PSU should handle it fine.... as long as it isn't a generic PSU, because unbranded PSU suck major cockchops...

 

[GeneticWeapon]

For today's gaming machines, 2gb of RAM is very important.

Not as important as you guys are making it seem. There are a couple of games that will suck it down, but y'all make it sem like death will come if 2gigs are not provided :roll:

 

[PJ101]

We aren't trying to say that without 2 gigs or ram you will die. On my dads computer he noticed a difference when playing some games where having 1 gb was playable but 2 gb was so much smoother.

 

[Bluefinger]

But but! the voice inside my head told me I would die if the pc didn't have two gigs of RAM!! D:

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

We aren't trying to say that without 2 gigs or ram you will die. On my dads computer he noticed a difference when playing some games where having 1 gb was playable but 2 gb was so much smoother.

However like GW says, it's not that important. Especially not in Oblivion;
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6147127/p-7.html

And even in the games where there is a difference, it's minor.
For the most part moving from 512 to 1GB is a huge improvement while moving from 1 to 2 is minor at best, and nothing at worst (well actually I saw a few that went down, but by the marginn of error so doubt it's detrimental.

And I say that as someone who has 2GB in my laptop, why, because I will move it into my next rig when it may be helpful and cost about $30CDN more than 1GB so why not?

But few people need it, and it's definitely not an impactful upgrade for Oblivion.

 

[cleeve]

From what I hear, the 2gb won't really impact your framerates at all, but you won't notice loading times as much between areas & the like.

 

[unsmart]

alot with the ram is how you tweak windows, if youre running on default and leave all your apps going during games you will need alot of ram.
When they bench it's a clean install with only the bare drivers and no other apps running, they don't acount for a dirty system. If you set win to performance and keep your system clean,defraged and turn off all apps but the game one gig is all you really need. If you just install a game and hit the icon to play, you have half your ram filled with junk[ virus scans, pop up blocker and the like]. Every thing wants to run in ram now even if you don't need it 90% of time, sloppy coding really. I would also defrag before and after you install a large program. So many people blame the vid card when it's really the harddrive being read because the ram is full.
I'm sure vista will be a sloppy ass ram hog so two gigs is a good idea. I was hoping MS would take a hint from linux and make a smarter OS but it doesnt look like it. With all the flavors of vista one should be gaming, but isn't

 

[fainis]

485watts is more than enough....check the juice on 12volts rail..should be between 20 amps and 30 amps..or even more
although nobady said x1900 should need more power than x1800
but of course is good practice to have a good psu.....that will ensure you a good and stable sistem for a long time

have a nice day everybady!